Fire-resisting door and door-frame.



No. 630,912. Pfmed Aug. 2n, lam. A. DE MAN.

FIRE RESISTING DUUR AND DUUR FRAME.

(Application led Feb. 26, 1900.)

(No Modal.)

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lllivrrnn Smarts Parham Ormes.

ALPHONSE DE MAN, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

HRB-RESISTIN@ DOOR AND @GORI-FRAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 680,912, dated August20, 1901.

Application letl February Z6, 1900. Serial No. 6,518. (No model Tocir/ZZ whom, t nto/,y como@ re:

Be it known that I, ALPHONSE DE MAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Resisting Doors andDoor-Frames, of which the following is a specification, reference beinghad therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates more particularly to iireproof doors anddoor-frames, and is in the nature of an improvement on a prior inventionof mine, shown and described in Letters Patent No. 603,442, issued May3, 1898. The said prior patent is one for a fire-resisting doonanddoor-frame, and comprises, essentially, a wooden core which is insulatedor protected from lire by a covering of some fireproof material, such asasbestos, this insulated core being then faced with wood to give theappearance of the ordinary wooden door. The door-frame likewisecomprises an insulated wooden core and wooden facing therefor. Thestructure as a whole is intended to resist the spread of fire in abuilding for the reason that the facing maybe entirely burned off fromthe door and frame and still leave the insulated cores intact, and thelatter are relied upon to prevent the passage of flame from one room toanother.

The device just described while useful and efficient in preventing thespread of fire under certain conditions has, nevertheless, itslimitations. First of these is from the fact that in order to thoroughlyinsulate and protect the core some durable material, such as metal, mustbe employed, and to this it is difficult to secure the wooden facings.Further, as the core must be twice covered, once with theinsulatingmaterial and again with the facings, the structure is toocomplex and expensive.

It is the object of my present invention to obtain a simplifiedconstruction of fire-resisting structure which has all the advantages ofmy prior invention and in addition thereto is capable of betterresisting the passage of flames, even after the fire has gainedconsiderable headway; and to this end the invention consists in thepeculiar construction of a nre-resisting structure comprising alireproof core which is exterior-ly faced with iinishing material and,further, in the construction of said core, which is of such a nature asto permit of readily securing the finishing facings thereto and combinesthe qualities of perfect incombustibility with lightness, strength, anda certain degree of penetrability.

The invention further consists in the construction of a door anddoor-frame having cores of the nature described and, further, in thepeculiar construction and arrangement of parts as more fully hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of a doorand door-frame of myimproved construction. Fig. 2 is a horizontalsection on line .fr a', Fig. 1.

The fireproof cores which I employ in my structure are preferably of acomposite nature. The exact materials and proportions employed in theircomposition I do not deem essential to my present invention, as it isobvious th at various materials may be employed which Will serve thepurpose equally well. The essential characteristics of this core are,first, that it will be fire-resisting and. noncombustible; second, thatit has a surface to which the wooden facing may be secured by gluing,and, third, that it be sufficiently penetrable to admit of securingthefacings and hinges or other hardware thereto by nails or screws andalso sufficiently tenacious and elastic to hold the said screws ornails. Such a material may be obtained by employing sawdust, wood, orasbestos fiber or other light body material mixed with a sufficientquantity of mineral matter to render the mass noncombustible and acement for binding the material together and imparting to it asufficient hardness and strength. The cement of ,mineral matter which Ipreferably employ is oxychlorid cement, being composed of a mixture ofmetallic oxid and a metallic chloridsuch, for instance, as oxid andchlorid of magnesia. This material will render the sawdust or wood fibernon-combustible and Will at the same time so firmly bind it together asto form a tenacious material. In compounding the mixture the oxychloridis mixed with water, after which the sawdust or ber is mixed in and theresulting mixture is placed in a suitable mold and allowed to harden forabout twenty hours. Each core is preferably IOO form ed in a singlepiece, and, if desired, it may be strengthened by embedding awire-netting or other light metallic members therein.

In the structure shown in the drawings, A is a core for the door of thenature described above. To this core are secured the facings B and B ofany suitable form, those shown in the drawings comprising the rails aand panels b, which will impart to the door the appearance of theordinary wooden finish. The edges of the core are also finished byfacing-strips c, and these strips are preferably of sufficient thicknessto permit of fitting the door to the door-frame and also of setting inthe hinges.

D is the core of the door-frame, which is formed of similar material,and is of a size to fit as closely as possible into the opening in theWall. The slight space that may be left between said frame and the edgesof the opening in the wall may be filled with cement, mineral wool, orother fire-resisting material, such as d. The exposed faces of thisframe are then faced by the jamb-strips, such as E, and the trim F.

A door and door-frame thus constructed will have every appearance of theordinary Wooden door and will harmonize with the rest of the interiorfinish of the building. At the same time the wooden facings form no partof the essential structure, and in case of a fire may be completelyburned off, leaving the door and frame still standing and barring thefurther spread of the flame, as the material from which the core is madeis of a fireproof nature. Its strength and efficiency in resisting theflames are not greatly impaired, no matter What degree of heat it issubjected to.

While I have described the specific structure of a door and door-frame,it is obvious that my invention might be applied to other uses. Again,while I have described wooden facings I do not desire to be limitedthereto, as any material may be used therefor which is suitable for theinterior finish of a building and which may be secured to the fireproofcore. I shall therefore use in the claims the term facings of finishingmaterial as meaning any material suitable for the purpose described.

What I claim as my invention is l. A lire-resisting structure comprisinga core ofnon-combustiblefireproof material and a facing of finishingmaterial, said core being composed of a body of finely-dividedcompressible material and a binding mineral cement.

2. A fire-resisting structure comprising a core of reproof material,composed of a body of finely-divided fibrous compressible material and abinding mineral cement, said core having glue-adhering surfaces; and afacing of finishing material glued to said core.

3. A iireproof structure comprising a single-piece core ofnon-combustible reproof material, composed of a bodyof finely-dividedcompressible material and a binding mineral cement, and a plurality offacings of finishing material secured to said core.

4. A fireproof structure comprising a core of non-combustible ireproofmaterial and facings of finishing material secured thereto, said corebeing composed of a body of finelydivided compressible and elasticmaterial and a binding mineral cement whereby the resulting substance isof a penetrable tenacious nature adapted to receive and hold nails orscrews.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALPHONSE DE MAN.

Witnesses:

M. B. ODOGHERTY, H. O. SMITH.

